Spring really makes me want to eat Tai (sea bream) every day. I enjoy it in sashimi, carpaccio, sushi, etc. And, here’s another Tai dish I love, which is Tai Shabu. It’s basically a simple fish shabu shabu and always so good. If you can save enough broth, hope you enjoy the shime (finishing) noodle course, too.
One of my favorite dishes to eat during the spring is Tai Meshi (Sea Bream Rice), made in a donabe. I cook the rice with a whole Tai (sea bream), so it’s not only very flavorful but the dish is perfect for festivity. I usually cook this dish with my double-lid donabe rice cooker, Kamdo-san, but since the fish I got this time was much bigger than my 3 rice-cup size Kamado-san, I decided to make it in my large-size donabe (I used my donabe steamer, Mushi Nabe, without the steam grate). By bending its tail, I could barely fit it in my donabe! To garnish, kinome (sansho leaves) are typically used in Japan. But since it’s hard to find kinome here in LA, I used dill and it paired with the rice beautifully.
